Hide It In  Your Memories
by willshakespeare-immortalbard
Summary: When Josh finds an old photo in the taxi-cab on the drive to Stonehenge, he discovers a story of love and loss. And he finds that the other "twins of legend" aren't so distant as he thought. Rated T for abandonment and descriptive pain/injury. Please R/R
1. Prologue

**A/N—I own nothing. Michael Scott owns everything! **

**Summary: This is a really bad idea, I know, but I needed to write something. This piece is dedicated to Elycia-of-Arc, who asked me to write it when they heard about the plot. So, here you go, Elycia-of-Arc!**

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><p><strong>Hide It In Your Memories<strong>

_**It's shoved away, right in the back of the glove compartment, almost as if it had been put there on purpose: crumpled up in a ball, it almost snaps in half when he unfolds it. The sharp edges of the—he peers at the object in his hand, trying to find out what it is, and realizes that it's a photograph. A bad quality color snapshot that looks like it was taken with a disposable camera. **_

_**Three faces, filled with joy and laughter, look up at him, and it takes him a second to actually recognize William Shakespeare. He looks closely at the picture, confused, unable to figure out why he didn't know the Bard immediately. And then he sees the eyes. **_

_**Shakespeare's eyes are different. When Josh met him, the Bard's pale eyes had borne a haunted look. They had been almost...almost **__**empty**__**, and the only emotion on his face that had ever reached his eyes was pain. The smiles and laughter had only ever been in his features, but never his eyes. **_

_**Here, in the photo, Shakespeare's joy is evident. Josh can see it, shining in his blue eyes, despite the bad quality of the photo. Something was different back—whenever the photo was taken. He turns over the picture, searching for a date, and sees an inscription on the back, written in a firm, almost hieroglyphic script. **_

_**November, 1979**_

_**Over twenty years ago. It's then that immortality really becomes a solid fact for him. Shakespeare looks the same as he did when Josh last saw him, not even twenty-four hours ago, yet this picture's older than Josh is. **_

_**He turns his attention to the other two faces, one on either side of Shakespeare, and is shocked to see two children. They couldn't be older than him and Sophie. **_

_**Identical twins. They have to be. Both have chocolate brown hair and clear grey eyes, long noses and heart-shaped faces. If one of them wasn't a girl, they could be duplicates. **_

_**"Who...who are those kids?" he asks, holding the photo out to the Saracen Knight. **_

_**Palamedes takes it from Josh's hand and looks at it. Josh sees the pain in the knight's face, and strangely, it's the same expression that he saw on Shakespeare's as he said that he hated Dee.**_

_**"Ben and Lizzy." Palamedes' voice is taut with pain. **_

_**"Who?"**_

_**"Benjamin and Elizabeth. They...they were—"**_

_**"Were?" Josh hears the anger coming into his voice as he repeats the past tense verb. He's heard it so many times, it frightens him now, angers him. "What do you mean, **__**were**__**?"**_

_**The Saracen Knight breathes deeply, and Josh can hear the shaky inhalation. **_

_**"They were the sweetest children. Will and I loved them dearly. We were all they had, and we gave all we could to be everything for them."**_

_**"I don't understand."**_

_**"I found them in 1964, in late November...I made a choice then that I felt was the right one. Looking back, I'm not so sure anymore."**_

_**"Why?" Why is he prying? He doesn't know, except that he needs to understand who these children are, and why the Saracen Knight looks so sad when he speaks of them, why Shakespeare looked so haunted when Josh met him, why he didn't twenty years ago.**_

_**The car stops at a traffic light, and the red glow illuminates Palamedes' face. The knight points towards an alleyway with one finger.**_

_**"I found them just in there."**_


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N—I own nothing. Michael Scott owns everything! **

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><p>Palamedes followed the cries, slipping down the dark alley. He gagged, his Awakened senses making the already noxious smell of garbage and waste almost unbearable. He allowed his aura to spark, just for an instant, and he breathed in the sharp smell of cloves, reveling in the relief.<p>

The insistent wails drew him back to reality, and he continued on his way, skirting past garbage bins and scattered litter. He peered around the alley, searching for the source of the cries. His sharp eyes picked up the shapes of cats, of broken down boxes, of pools of liquid, of the faint glimmer—

His aura blossomed, and he spun around, sword in hand.

But no one was there. Yet _someone_ had made his aura ignite. _Someone _with a powerful aura of their own was here, in the alleyway...

He glanced around again, and his eyes landed on a particularly soggy cardboard box.

The sides were caving in, held up by whatever was in the box, and the fixture moved ever so slightly as something shifted.

Two infants, bundled up tightly in fresh baby blankets, were crammed into the box—which was too small for them—with a slip of paper, already damp and hard to read, placed on the blankets.

Palamedes bent, and the smell of his aura grew stronger. The scents of pine and pumpkin mingled with his aura, and the small children were encompassed in a sudden glow of gold and silver.

He staggered back, his sword clanging to the ground, sliding across the pavement to land in a puddle of something.

Every immortal knew the prophecy: the twins of legend—gold and silver—

Palamedes slowly lowered himself to the ground next to the cardboard box. He reached for the slip of paper, though a nagging whisper inside of him told him that if he read the paper he would immediately be placed in charge of the infants.

The whisper didn't stop him, and he quickly read the paper's contents.

_**Benjamin and Elizabeth—born November 17**__**th**__**, 1964**_

Today.

His heart filled with sorrow. The babies had been born just that day, and already abandoned.

Palamedes didn't hesitate. He scooped up the box, careful not to harm the infants, and headed back for the taxi. He'd explain to Will—who, contrary to popular belief about Shakespeare, loved children—and they'd figure out what to do.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N—I own nothing. Michael Scott owns everything! **

**Okay, so I don't really know if I like this chapter. I had an awesome thing written, and Microsoft messed up on me and I lost it all. So I apologize for the shabbiness of this chapter. **

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><p>"What are we going to do?" Will asked, looking up at Palamedes from his seat on one of the couches. The Bard had a child in each arm, and his pale blue eyes bore a mixed look of confusion, worry, and affection. "I mean...I guess we could—could <em>try<em>. To take care of them ourselves. But...I just don't know..."

Palamedes fingered the note in his hand. He hadn't shown it to Will yet. Maybe he ought to. Dropping the crumpled paper onto the Bard's lap, Palamedes sat back and waited.

"Benjamin and Elizabeth...born..." Will dropped the paper and looked at Palamedes in horror. "They were born today."

"I know. And also, they're twins."

Will started and snatched up the paper again, staring down at the words. His lips moved at he read, and Palamedes saw what little color he possessed drain from his face.

"Oh my graciousness. They _are_."

"I think, Will, that they were put there for a reason."

"What reason? There's never—"

"I think that they were put in that alley to protect them. To keep them from someone who wanted them because of what they are."

"Who?"

Palamedes didn't answer. He knew that Will was hedging the question. He'd seen the thought in Will's eyes—the Bard knew who would want the children. And he knew that if either one of those persons got them, then they didn't stand much of a chance.

"Dee? Or Flamel?" Will shuddered, clutching the children tighter instinctively. 'They'd Awaken them as soon as they could. And...and..the same thing that happened to Hamnet—" He stopped and swallowed. "It's not that I don't want them. And it's not that I don't think they're worth the trouble. I-I just don't know if we can give them what they need."

"The question is, do we dare tell anyone else about them?"

Will's answer was immediate and determined. He shook his head.

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><p><em><strong>"It was a hard choice," Palamedes muttered, staring out the windshield at the street. "We were scared: scared to keep them, afraid that we couldn't give them what they needed, that we couldn't be what they deserved. Scared to tell anyone else about their existence. Afraid that to do so would be putting them in greater danger. In the end, we told Joan and Francis."<strong>_

_**Josh nodded, entranced by the story. **_

_**"And what happened?" he asked, motioning toward the picture that Palamedes had laid on the dashboard. **_

_**The knight closed his eyes for a moment, his face creasing with emotion.**_

_**"We did what we had decided to do. We raised them."**_


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N—I own nothing. Michael Scott owns everything! **

**I'm so sorry for my long absence. Writer's block had me stuck, and then I got really busy...but I'm back!**

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><p>Palamedes rocked Lizzy back and forth, murmuring softly. "Shhh...you'll wake Ben and Will up..."<p>

Will was currently fast asleep on the couch, with Ben cradled in one arm. The Bard looked absolutely exhausted, and he had nearly cried with joy when Palamedes had taken the wailing Lizzy.

"Shhh...shhh..." Slowly Lizzy's wails quieted, and she looked up at Palamedes with her large grey eyes. Even more slowly, those grey eyes closed and her breathing slowed, until she was asleep.

"Finally," he whispered, placing her down in the cradle and easing Ben from Will's limp arms. Will moaned softly and clung to Ben, worry creasing his tired face.

"Will—Will, wake up a moment!"

"What?" Will asked, pushing himself up. Palamedes gathered Ben into his arms.

"You wouldn't let me take Ben, and I thought it would be worth waking you up so I could take him and you could sleep better."

Will nodded. "Thanks...oh, I'm so tired. They're worse than Susanna..."

Palamedes sat down by Will, curiosity overriding the knowledge that he ought to let his friend sleep.

"What was Susanna like?"

"She cried constantly—but only ever at night. During the day, she'd hardly ever make a sound, and then, as soon as it got dark, she'd start screaming."

Palamedes laughed. "It sounds like _she_ was worse than Ben and Lizzy."

"No, _she_ actually went to sleep, so long as you held her. Ben and Lizzy...if you leave them be, they scream. If you hold them, they either continue screaming or decide that they're not tired anymore. I don't think I've slept properly for a week. But I don't think we made the wrong decision...I mean..." Will bit his lip and Palamedes saw his face pale. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What?"

"Today, someone called. I didn't recognize the number, but I answered it anyway, thinking it might be you—or Baybars. It was...it...it was Dee."

"_What?_"

"It was Dee. He didn't know my name, and I don't think he recognized my voice. He was looking for Ben and Lizzy."

"Did he know they were here?" Palamedes asked. Will shook his head.

"I'm positive that he didn't. He wasn't threatening. In fact, I believe that his angle to get information is pretending that he's their father, though I can't be sure. I might have quasi-blacked out when I heard his voice. But he didn't sound like he knew who I was, or that they were there. He must have just gotten this number somehow and...and called it. I disconnected the phone once he hung up."

Palamedes took a deep breath, and Will buried his face in his hands. In their cradle, Ben and Lizzy shifted restlessly. For the first time in his life, Palamedes realized that he had a family. And that that family needed protecting.


End file.
